Less Is More
"Less Is More"
My boxing coach Sam often told me that in a training session.
The art of boxing is discipline.
The art of using your whole body.
The art of leveraging power from you hips and your waist to ensure your punches have power.
The old me was intrigued by the idea of marital arts because I had a pre-existing idea that it meant punching all the way, full power all the time.
But that was far from the reality of boxing.
What I learnt from Sam was far more valuable than my initial expectation of what boxing was.
It is an art.
You learn to appreciate how everything comes together, your stance, your posture, your hips, your waist, the positioning of your arms.
It is the full integration of your whole body.
I find it amazing how a simple advice can be so impactful.
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Like boxing, life will give you opportunities at times and knowing when to go all in or walk away is important.
In boxing, its the knowledge and experience of knowing when the right time to punch or slip away from one.
It’s not about punching 100% all the time.
It’s all about timing.
It’s about doing the minimal with the right technique to conserve your energy so you don’t overwork yourself.
Hence. “Less Is More”.
In this context, doing less is beneficial because you are strategizing.
The more you do the more tired you get, the less effective your punches will be.
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Let me paint you a picture of how this works in real life.
For example, back in my university days, a saying gets thrown around a lot “P’s get degrees”.
Meaning passing your course or getting a distinction in your course both lead to the same outcome.
Of course, I’m not saying this applies to all courses, definitely not in medicine. But for other courses, the outcome is the same. You still get the degree in the end.
As I have iterated in the previous letter, everything is context dependent. So please be mindful when taking on advice and processing them.
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In life, if you put 100% in everything you do, you will overwork yourself and burnout.
Society glamorizes perfection and productivity, and it has been cemented into our minds from day one.
Anyone who strays away from seeming “perfect” or “productive” all the time are shamed and made to feel bad.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying go be a lazy piece of shit (Again, everything is context dependent).
Be aware of your context. Be aware of how you tend to navigate from black to white, 0-100.
I’m saying you need to learn to identify how much effort and energy to put into something so you don’t end up tiring yourself out to the point of burnout and hating life.
Zoom out of your perfectionist mindset.
Figure out how much percentage you want to allocate to life, work, relationships and family.
Balance out the percentages in your life.
You are a cup that needs to be nurtured and filled.
You cannot continuously pour into other people’s cups.
Or you will be sucked dry wondering why you lost “motivation”.
Or you will wonder why you are “procrastinating” when in reality you need to give yourself a fucking break.
Here are 3 tips on how to not end up burnout
Allocate intentional time blocks to your non-negotiable priorities in life
Don’t put in 100% in EVERYTHING because not everything deserves your 100%
Learn to look out for yourself. Advocate for yourself. (Look out for your own interests and not just prioritze an employer’s, partner’s or your parents’)
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That is it for this Newsletter.
Thank you for being here on this journey with me.
Enjoy your week.
Peace.
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